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SpruceDickspring t1_itz6u8i wrote

Basically those 'Chill / Study Beats' compilations on YouTube where all the songs feature jazz chords over downtempo hip-hop beats blew up a few years ago.

To people producing beats on computers, 'Lo-Fi' has become synonymous with feeding your instrumental tracks through effects which deliberately sound like poorly calibrated analogue gear to give it that slightly distorted 'warble' tone. Sometimes they overlay fake vinyl noise to give the track a sense of 'warmth' too.

Fundamentally the phrase 'Lo-fi' was sort of abandoned by the indie scene and co-opted by electronic producers. Lo-fi essentially means 'digital music trying to sound less digital'.

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MyHouz t1_iu17gik wrote

To add to this great explanation, the name itself is a reference to the genre's valuing attempts to reproduce lower-quality audio effects of a bygone era, things that would have been considered imperfections in the past but which we now regard as nostalgic: lo-fi = low fidelity.

Another wonderful example of an artist using techniques like these to create a sense of happiness and warmth is Atmosphere's "Sunshine" (which is also just an amazing song).

The language teacher in me also wants to add that different terminologies employed by different age or cultural or demographic groups are inevitable!

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